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Dwayne Johnson Wishes Shazam Team 'Best of Luck'

Dwayne Johnson has wished the team behind Shazam!the "best of luck" with their movie. Shazam! will be next DC movie to enter production, with David F. Sandberg calling the shots as its director. However, despite the fact that Johnson had long been attached to the role of Shazam’s arch-nemesis Black Adam, he is not going to appear in the film.

Nevertheless, Johnson continues to talk enthusiastically about his on-going relationship with DC and the character of Black Adam, who is now slated to get his own movie at some point down the line. While preparations are being made for Shazam! to shoot in Canada next year, Black Adamis still at the writing stage, with script-writing duties falling to Adam Sztykiel (co-writer of Johnson’s video game movie, Rampage).

In a new interview with Comic Book, Johnson was asked about the recently-announced casting of Zachary Levi as Shazam. Specifically, Johnson was asked if Levi will need to beef up to play his superhero rival. Never one to miss a chance to hype up a movie, Johnson spun his answer in a very positive way:

“I think they’ve got a great plan over there with him, and I wish those guys the best of luck. We obviously had to split the idea, because the idea was Black Adam and Shazam, so we split it. So yeah, those guys are gonna do great with that.”

It seems safe to assume that the success of the Shazam! movie will determine how quickly DC and Warner Bros decide to press ahead with that Black Adam film. In the meantime, rumors have suggested that Johnson could debut in the role of Black Adam by joining the villainous team-up ensemble for Suicide Squad 2. This would make a lot of sense, allowing The Rock to add a new ingredient to the Suicide Squad franchise whilst also doing his bit to raise the profile of Black Adam.

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However, it remains to be seen whether the rivalry between Shazam and Black Adam is something that film fans actually want to see. Shazam! will show the young boy Billy Batson (played by Asher Angel) transforming into the adult superhero Shazam, with the help of a magic word. Although this is familiar to comic book fans, it is a brand new concept for the wider public to embrace.

Shazam! has been described as the Tom Hanks film Big “but with superpowers”, which is a vastly different prospect to what the DC Extended Universe has offered moviegoers thus far. The film is a sizeable gamble for Warner Bros and DC, then, but it could pay off in spades if they manage to launch a successful multi-movie franchise off its back. It all depends on the only magic words that matter to movie execs: box office returns.